Cieasha Shana Brown stands Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, in Cabell Circuit Court where she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the March 2011 stabbing death of Lamar Jackson.

Woman gets 10 years in '11 killing

Sentence

Nov. 08, 2012 @ 09:51 AM

CURTIS JOHNSON

HUNTINGTON — A Huntington woman learned her punishment Thursday for fatally stabbing a man with whom she was intimately involved.

Cieasha Shana Brown, 22, received a 10-year prison sentence. She had pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in September telling the court she used a kitchen knife to fatally stab Lamar Jackson.

Cabell Circuit Judge Alfred Ferguson announced the punishment.

Brown sought home confinement Thursday. She had faced anywhere between 3 and 15 years in prison.

The incident happened early morning March 22, 2011, in the 1800 block of Rural Avenue. Investigators said the 31-year-old Huntington man received a stab wound to his neck, ran from the home and eventually collapsed on a neighboring porch at 1302 18th St. The porch was located a few houses away.

The death followed a physical altercation between the live-in couple. Brown claims to have been bitten by Jackson. She retaliated with a hit. Brown, still feeling threatened for her life, then grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Jackson.

Brown, initially charged with first-degree murder, could have been cleared of all wrongdoing if a jury believed her story.

However, Brown and her defense worried about testimony from a key eyewitness. Defense attorney Tim Rosinsky said that witness had provided two different stories. They believed her prosecution-friendly version might have given jurors reason to find premeditation, malice and intent — all prerequisites for first-degree murder and a potential life prison sentence.

Brown told the court she and Jackson had been friends since age 15. She had allowed him to move into her residence, and they became intimately involved. The fatal argument happened about a week after he moved in, she told the court.